


A Whole New World Or Our Choir Is Better Than Yours

by gingifere



Series: Orchestra Verse [3]
Category: Johnny's Entertainment
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-21
Updated: 2011-06-21
Packaged: 2017-10-20 15:13:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/214106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gingifere/pseuds/gingifere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Koyama's idea to set up the choir.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Whole New World Or Our Choir Is Better Than Yours

It’s Koyama’s idea to set up the choir; “It’ll be fun!” he exclaims to Shige and Yamapi, waving his hands energetically.  
“Something to pass the time, a way to encourage team work” Shige joins because Koyama makes him (“You can be the conductor!”) and Yamapi joins because he needs it for his CV now that he’s quit wind band.

The rest turn up because Subaru and Yoko are put in charge of creating and posting up the flyers and everyone expects to turn up to watch the newest Angelina Jolie movie that Maruyama’s somehow got his hands on. By the time they realise that they've been tricked, they're too lazy to get up and leave after Koyama's plied them with snacks.

Kame shows up because he’s graduating soon and he needs to make sure his CV is packed with extracurricular activities, because he knows that a hundred other better violinists will graduate from music school this year, and that if he wants to fulfil his lifelong dream to travel and play with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, he has to step up his game. And if that means going to rehearsals every week with a group of uncivilised plebeians whose idea of choral music means singing every L’Arc~en~ciel song ever released then that’s fine. All he needs to remember is that it’s for the greater good.

Of course what starts off as a bit of a joke suddenly becomes serious when Ryo steps in to help Shige organise everything and Uchi excitedly waves an advertisement for the annual Sunbeam choir competition that his singing teacher’s told him about. In a flash they’re practising twice a week and Ryo’s snarling at everyone, telling the slackers to get lost if they’re not serious and even though Kame thinks Ryo’s being a bit over the top, there’s something beautiful when they finally sing through Seasons Of Love in its entirety and they actually sound good. And as he watches Shige’s tense face relax into the first real smile they’ve seen in weeks, he thinks that maybe they can actually win this competition.

~ ~ ~

Kame knows who Koki is because he’s friends with Ueda, and Kame and Ueda have been friends since their first year when the string and the wind section were shoved together because there weren’t enough practice rooms.

But he’s still vaguely surprised when Koki offers to accompany him on the piano for his recital. He pauses slightly and considers Koki’s offer. He knows Koki’s a brilliant pianist and he’s always got on well with Koki whenever he’s crashed Ueda and Kame’s revision sessions, but he’s still wary about letting him play with him. Music’s always been personal to Kame; he can still remember locking himself in his room when he used to practice and the sick twist of his stomach every time he had to perform in front of people. It’s somehow even more personal during a recital because he only has one chance to get it right and he needs to know that he can trust Koki implicitly not to mess up or to cover him if he does.

But then he glances up and Koki is awkwardly pretending not to watch him, and Ueda is glancing at them out of his corner of his eye, and Jin is pointedly Not Looking At Them and he finds himself agreeing to meet Koki later on in the practice rooms by the music room.

He just as pointedly ignores Jin when he snorts in disgust and loudly makes arrangement to go out for ramen with Yamapi. Because he’s not jealous. That would be trite and pathetic and would involve him admitting that he sort of possibly has a crush on Jin and really, Kame doesn’t need to hassle that would come from Jin finding out that he likes him. His life is hard enough just being Jin’s friend, after all.

It’s strange because Kame has never really been able to define his relationship with Jin. He remembers the first time they met, Jin following Ueda into their classroom, angrily shouting about Ueda cancelling their ‘jamming session’, Ueda serenely ignoring Jin in favour of waving at Kame. It’s at that point that Jin had paused in his angry arm waving to stick out his hand and introduce himself as ‘Akanishi Jin, guitarist’ with a slight leer, as if he had expected Kame to fall to his feet in adoration. When Kame had just stared at him in slight confusion before tentatively placing his hand in Jin’s he had no idea that it was the beginning of a sort of beautiful friendship.

~ ~ ~

Something’s not right. Kame’s not entirely sure what but the piece just isn’t flowing and he still can’t get the damn counting right just before the second piano. He sighs and takes the bow off of the strings with a hiss of frustration, feeling rather than seeing Koki’s slightly concerned expression. They’ve been practicing the  
Introduzione from the Suite Italienne for the last two weeks and Kame is still unhappy with it, still unsure that he’s ready to get up and perform it for a group of strangers. The stupid thing is that it’s not as if the piece doesn’t sound good, because it does. Koki understands every dynamic change, fits the piano around Kame rather than the other way round and the sound they produce together makes them sound as if they’ve been playing with one another for years rather than every day for two weeks. But still Kame’s unhappy.

“Maybe we should take a break?” Koki suggests as he watches Kame glare down at the music, pencil circling and emphasising the pencil markings he already has scribbled all over the music.  
Kame sighs and winces as he places his violin down into his case with care, elbow and fingers cracking uncomfortably.

“Mm. I’m sorry Koki. Your fingers must be killing you,” Kame frowns, sending the fingers in question a worried loo

“Nah. I’ve had worse,” Koki grins, stretching as he stands. “Stay here. I’ll get drinks.”

Kame nods distractedly and Koki quietly leaves the room struggling not to roll his eyes when he catches sight of Jin and Ryo sprawled out on the comfy chairs by the entrance.

“You’re pathetic, Akanishi,” he drawls, moving towards the vending machine in the corner. “And what the hell, Nishikido? I’d never have pegged you for the stalker type.”

“Fuck off, Tanaka,” Ryo snarls without glancing up from the stacks of music sheets in front of him. “I’m trying to put together a decent piece for the ridiculous band of idiots Shige insists on calling a choir. Lord knows you lot need it now that we’re in the semi-finals for the Sunbeam Competition. Akanishi just turned up half an hour ago muttering something about looking for Yamamoto-sensei.”

Koki struggles not to roll his eyes at Ryo’s holier-than-thou attitude. Everyone knows Ryo’s only involved because Uchi blackmailed him and he owes Shige for that time he told everyone Shige had his grade five singing certificate and Yamamoto-sensei made him sing a solo for the end of year concert. And anyone can see that Ryo enjoys being part of the choir, that he thrives on bossing everyone around and calling them a bunch of untalented idiots at every opportunity. Which is ridiculous because everyone knows that Kame and Subaru are the most talented musicians in the entire school.

“Seriously though, Jin. You need to stop stalking Kame,” Koki says, waving a can of coffee milk.

“I am not stalking him,” Jin snarls back, scowling up at Koki. “I’m merely…appreciating his musical skills.”

“Bull,” Ryo snorts without looking up from where he’s scribbling dynamics onto the stack of music scores in front of him. “Everyone and their mum knows you want to fuck Kamenashi’s skinny arse. You’re just too chicken to say anything.”

“I do not!” Jin shouts angrily. “And his arse is not skinny.”

When Koki and Ryo begin to laugh, Jin slouches back into his chair and tries not to flush. It feels like that’s all he struggles not to do whenever he’s near Kame and it’s just as bad whenever someone brings him up. It’s starting to get embarrassing and if Jin didn’t like Kame as much as he did, he’d be pissed off. But there’s something about Kame with his awkwardness and obsessive need to excel at the violin, to become the very best that draws Jin in. He thinks maybe it’s because Kame, despite being obsessed with work and music, is an unfailingly good friend. He doesn’t like to think about the little voice in the back of his head that tells him he’d rather be more than just friends with Kame.

For now he’s pretty happy to remain in the background as long as it means that Kame still regards him as a friend. Although that’s pretty hard to remember whenever he watches Kame play his violin: long, elegant fingers dancing across the strings, each movement precise and confident, his entire body swaying softly from side to side as his eyes slide shut and he gets lost in the music. There’s something almost beautiful about Kame and Jin thinks if he could, he’d stay and watch Kame all day, except that’s creepy and if Kame ever found out he’d probably never talk to Jin again.

“Well as touching as it is to stay here and bond with you, Nishikido, I better get back to practising.” Koki is saying when Jin blinks and tunes back into the conversation, moving back towards the practice room. “Speak to you later, Jin.”

Jin nods slightly and Koki slides the practice room door open with a slight sigh.

“Sorry Kame. Bashed into Ryo. Here,” Koki says as he swings back into the practice room, handing Kame a bottle of lemon water and sliding back behind the piano.

Kame nods slightly in thanks, pencil busy on the score as he scribbles in bowing. “Do you mind if we go from just before the first forte section? I changed the bowing slightly and I wanted to see if it still fits with the piano.”

“Sure,” Koki grins, stretching his fingers slightly and sighing in relief when they crack. He runs his fingers across the ivory keys and flips his score open glancing up and sideways at Kame. A slight nod and Kame begins.

~ ~ ~

“Jesus, can you believe that this time next week we’ll be singing at the finals,” Koki breathes two hours after the recital where he’s dragged everyone to Ueda’s house. Kame looks up from where he’s half sprawled out on Ueda’s sofa.

“It’s gone pretty fast, huh?” he murmurs thoughtfully.

“Yeah. I mean we’re all pretty equal now. People are even starting to take Maru seriously, despite the fact that he only plays the triangle,” Jin says, snickering when Maru throws his cushion at Jin in outrage.

“I keep telling you, the triangle is a serious instrument!” he protests. “You’re just jealous because Ryo doesn’t keep telling me to ‘shut the hell up and prove that I can count up to five’ every time I play.”  
Jin snorts, slouching further into his seat and trying to edge closer to Kame without being too obvious. “What does Ryo know? He doesn’t even play anything.”

Kame struggles not to laugh and pretends that he doesn’t see Jin’s smile brighten slightly at his reaction. He’s running on a high from his recital, the pleased expression on his violin teachers face as he’d finished playing telling him exactly what he needs to know and he has to fight down the urge grin like an idiot.

“Let’s do our best next week,” Junno says, beaming and sitting up further in his seat. “We’ll have to blow the competition out of the water.”

“Damn straight. Let’s prove that we’re the best fucking choir in Tokyo.” Koki declares and it’s ridiculously cheesy and Kame would be tempted to roll his eyes and call them all idiots except he’s buzzing from his performance and these people are his friends and it doesn’t matter that he looks like an idiot. And when he slams his hand down on top of Ueda’s, meeting his smile it’s worth acting like a bit of an idiot.

~ ~ ~

The next three weeks fly by and suddenly they’re at the Suntory Concert Hall for the finals. Kame feels sick, stomach rolling and somehow it’s worse than his music recital because now he has Maru to deal with and Maru is somehow a hundred times more nervous and panicky than Kame is, which is saying a lot.

Not that the others look much better; Shige’s propped up against the wall, face so pale he’s almost glowing and Koyama has spent the last hour frantically trying to make him down bottles of water whilst Ryo impatiently paces in the corner, Uchi is watching him with something approaching smugness even as Maruyama and Yoko have sword fights with their bows and Ohkura idly twirls his drum sticks.  
Kame jumps slightly when a voice over the intercom tells them they have five minutes and suddenly Shige’s straightening up, face still pale but suddenly determined.

“Um,” he begins, looking even more horrified when the entire choir turns to look at him. “I guess I should say something now. Just, do your best? Don’t panic? Help Tegoshi and Jin as much as you can during their solo’s. Um.”

“What Shige is trying to say is, don’t fuck up” Ryo growls from the corner. “If you do I’m going to fucking kill you all. And don’t embarrass me either. It’s bad enough that everyone thinks I’ve got soft since I agreed to arrange the music for this. So just. Sing and get it right.”  
And really that’s all that they can do.

~ ~ ~

They don’t win. It’s not really surprising although it doesn’t stop Jin and Ryo from bitching about how their performance was better because they’d had hats and umbrellas and they were much better looking (although Jin was just bitter because the judges had failed to appreciate the umbrella dancing during ‘Don’t Rain On My Parade’ and Ryo was just angry because he’d wasted three months of his life obsessing over music).

It doesn’t really matter though because Yamapi drags them all round to Subaru’s house which is ridiculously huge and an hour later most of them are too drunk to care. Kame finds himself crowded between Jin and Koki and even as he feels Jin slide his arm around him and he watches Ryo and his friends sing a drunken mashed up remix of Ryo’s arrangement of Somebody To Love, he slides slightly back until he can feel Jin’s chest press against his side. And maybe it’s a start, but for now Kame’s just content to be.

**Author's Note:**

> Part three of my Orchestra AU. I actually started this as a bit of a joke after watching an episode of [Last Choir Standing](http://www.bbc.co.uk/lastchoirstanding/), but suddenly I couldn't stop writing and I had over 2000 words of ridiculous AU fic. The piece Kame plays is [Introduzione](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeUib1y3cqk) from Igor Stravinsky's _Suite Italienne_. The song that the choir sings is 'Don't Rain On My Parade'. Major thanks to [coffeeandice](http://coffeeandice.livejournal.com/) for the beta.


End file.
